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Author Archive for Lissa Pattillo

PR: Viz Media Offers Ninja Action in New Naruto Illustration Book

NINJA ACTION LEAPS OFF THE PAGE IN THE NARUTO ILLUSTRATION BOOK FROM VIZ MEDIA

Full Color Character Portraits By Creator Masashi Kishimoto Are Depicted In Addition To A Fold Out Poster And Collectible Stickers

San Francisco, CA, October 21, 2010 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the release of the vividly colored NARUTO ILLUSTRATION BOOK on October 26th. The new soft cover edition is offered by the Shonen Jump imprint, features nearly 100 pages of original illustrations by creator Masashi Kishimoto, and will carry an MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $27.00 CAN.

Naruto is a young shinobi (or ninja) with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He’s got a wild sense of humor, but Naruto is completely serious about his ongoing mission to be the world’s greatest ninja! The NARUTO ILUSTRATION BOOK features a variety of character portraits depicting the young ninja in action, as well as his cohorts including Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi. A color pull-out double-sided poster and a sticker sheet are also included.

Created by Masashi Kishimoto, NARUTO was first introduced in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan in 1999 and quickly became that country’s most popular ninja manga targeting tweens and teens with more than 100 million copies in circulation to-date. The manga series (rated ‘T’ for Teens) and animated counterpart (NARUTO rated ‘T’ for Teens, and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens) are among VIZ Media’s most successful properties and have captivated millions of fans across North America, Europe and South America.

Read more…


Big Changes Coming to Viz Media? Let the Theories Fly!

Staffers at Viz Media used Twitter for some teasing today, posting the following on their different imprint accounts:

“Keep your eyes peeled, HUGE news from VIZ coming next week. This changes everything! Any guesses?”

And guesses there were, as Twitter was quickly full of theories and ideas of what this could be all for good fun and curiousity. For a fairly good overview of who’s saying what and the various ideas brought to the table, I recommend a Viz_Media Twitter search.

A move to digital distribution of some kind was and remains the most seriously presumed of the theories. Will Viz Media be following the recent wave of digital distribution for comics on the iPad/iPhone? Will they begin to offer some multi-device eBook options? Will they reveal an online portal site to read their series via browsers? Old series? New series? All series?

Then there was the thoughts of more simultaneous releases such as what Viz Media has been doing with Rumiko Takahashi’s Rinne. Will we be seeing more simultaneous releases? Single series or multiple magazine-style? Could their existing Shonen Jump start accommodating such releases via subscription service online? Could Shonen Jump go completely digital all together such as Yen Press’s Yen Plus has?

Other theories, hopeful-wishes and amusing-WTFeries included new license announcements, a speed-up of another popular series such as what was done with One Piece and Naruto or Viz Media announcing it’s first boys’ love title (couldn’t help but toss this one in the ring myself).

So what do you think it could be? (Or think would be the most entertaining but improbable!)


Swag Bag – Gotta Catch ‘Em All

I still haven’t completely finished unpacking what I bought at the recent New York Anime Fest (or finished my write-up about it for that matter – eep!) but that certainly hasn’t stopped me from my weekly trips to Strange Adventures for all that’s new, shiny and on sale.

First off, I couldn’t help but pick up Dark Horse’s omnibus edition of Cardcaptor Sakura. I already own the floppies, Mixx tradebacks and Tokyopop editions of the series but this one was too shiny and high quality to ignore. If you’ve been looking to replace some old copies or haven’t had the pleasure of owning one of the most adorable and magical manga series ever made, then you owe it to yourself to pick this edition up. It’s printed on high-quality paper, has nice lettering work and a thus-smooth translation plus it’s stuffed with full colour illustration inserts. This is a beautiful book indeed!

Next I spelunked through the stack of new Yen Press books out this week and decided on the third volume of Black Butler. This series has so much fan-service that is absolutely, perfectly and deliberately tailored to me. Or at least that’s how it feels sometimes and judging by it’s time on the New York Time’s Best Sellers list, I’m guessing I’m not the only one.

Next to enter my awaiting arms was the omnibus edition of Strawberry Panic which looks super pretty. I’ve heard good things so hopefully I am rewarded! I’m really falling in love with these omnibus editions, they’re fantastic.

Viz Media had a whole bunch of new books to choose from and there seemed no solution other than picking up most of them. For a new series, I picked up March Story (Vol. 01) and continuing a personal-favourite, Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 09). Naturally I had to make sure I nabbed a copy of 20th Century Boys (Vol. 11) while there was still one remaining and I was happy to see the second volume of Kingyo Used Books.

And rounding off my purchase of new releases and a new edition of a series I already own, I bought volume of boys’ love classic, Kizuna. It’s another beautiful omnibus edition of a great series. I will be enjoying some nostalgic reading this week for sure!

Then there was the discount shelf, full of snazzy and affordable little surprises to round out my purchases of the day. I picked up the first two volumes of Aegis from NetComics. I don’t own many of their books but have bought a number lately and liked the majority (though I have my share of complaints about their lettering – pet peeve of mine!). That said though, the lettering in Aegis actually looks quite a bit tidier than the others of theirs I’ve read so good start! Apparently it’s “a heart-thobbing sci-fi epic that echoes Lord of the Flies!“.

Lastly I got La Corda d’Oro (Vol. 08) and Togainu no Chi (Vol. 02), both of which I felt sort of lukewarm about prior volumes but I’m always up for giving series another book to impress me! I had opposite thoughts on them both – La Corda d’Oro has fantastic art but a meh story, where as I really disliked the art of this Togainu no Chi manga but like the original story. We’ll see where these volumes lead!

And to top it all off, though not manga, I had to buy a copy of UDON’s Vent anthology. It’s a collection of artwork from their company’s collection of contributing artists and it’s gorgeous.

Those were my purchases this week – what about yours?


Review: Kobato (Vol. 03)

Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo
Kobato (Vol. 03)

Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: September 2010

Synopsis: “Kobato’s mission to fill up her magic bottle might just be on the backburner. It seems that the members of Yomogi Kindergarten’s staff are no strangers to wounds of the heart, but despite Kobato’s efforts, she’s no closer to healing either Sayaka-sensei or the ever-solemn Fujimoto-kun! Moreover, the center is still on the verge of being shut down by unscrupulous gangster types! Leaving Kobato to her own devices, Ioryogi-san meets with some odd characters from his past and uses his otherworldly connections to investigate Yomogi.”

Kobato’s quest continues! She’s still out to fill a jar with the healed hearts of those she’s helped, yet I can’t help but notice her accomplishment level still sits so slow, it leaves one to wonder how long this series could go. Currently her big project remains the daycare at which she’s been given work, an establishment with a loving clientele but a looming shadow above. Unfortunately while the potential for progression and drama is there, the will to carry it seems more lacking. Choppy chapters and a serious case of far-too-much-plush-dog left me a bit cold.

Read more…


Super Savings: Amazon Offers Free Shipping for Lower Subtotal

Amazon Free Shipping

It’s just gotten that much easier to order online from book-selling giant Amazon as the site announced earlier in the week that it has lowered its minimum purchase requirement for free shipping to only $25.

Originally customers were required to spend over $49 to get free shipping, and though not a lot of money, it was still a hefty level to reach for those only interested in a few titles and not keen on holding off on them until such time they had enough to qualify for the savings (which can really, really add up). Now only a couple novels, graphic novels or manga can easily make the cut. You can read Amazon’s Free Shipping info page to learn more, including the complete guidelines for eligibility.


ANN Review: Your Love Sickness

Your Love Sickness

I guess it’s more a good sign than not that I’m having trouble keeping up with my reviews being posted over at AnimeNewsNetwork, right? You can check out my thoughts on a new boys’ love short story collection, Your Love Sickness.

In short: I really liked this one. So did Shannon, which made me happy. For me this artist’s work screamed ‘Naono Bohra!’, who is one of my favourite manga creators. The stories were all pretty good in this one and the art was lovely – pretty but not pretty-boy kind of pretty. Okay, maybe a little pretty but still mostly masculine. As a one-shot this is a nice low-risk purchase too, so for that and all reasons already given in my review, I recommend it happily to fans of boys’ love.


Artist Eric Kim To Hold Manga Workshop Program in Toronto

Far too few and far between when I get to post to about some neat manga-related events going on across the country. Today I was sent an interesting press release from artist Eric Kim, probably known best to manga readers as the artist of the manga-inspired Love As A Foreign Language.

From November 6 to December 18, Eric Kim will be holding hands-on sessions about the creation of Japanese manga with the focus on storytelling through art. These sessions will take place in Toronto and will be 3 hours a class for seven weeks. Enrollment is limited to 15 students.

“Students will be introduced to layout, composition and design for storytelling, staging, anatomy, life drawing, perspective, shadow and texture, inking, toning, lettering, character design, color work, and also an overview of the North American marketplace. Along with comprehensive training both in-class and through assignments, students will obstain training that will start them on their storytelling careers.”

This Manga Dojo is a part of the Toronto Cartoonist Workshop which holds similar classes for all types of comic-making material.


PR: Eric Kim’s Manga Dojo in Toronto Cartoonists Workshop

Renowned Manga Creator Eric Kim
Set to Reveal Craft and Technique in “The Manga Dojo”

Eric Kim’s Manga Dojo kicks off Saturday, November 6, 2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO – Oct 15, 2010 – Toronto’s own Eric Kim will be bringing his many skills and accomplishments to the table when he takes on the role as instructor in the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop’s Manga Dojo.

The Manga Dojo is a hands-on, practical course – ideal for both beginner and intermediate artists. Students will be guided through the process of story creation and obtain a firm grasp of the fundamental elements involved in the Art of Japanese Manga.

Dates: November 6, 2010 to December 18, 2010
Time: Saturday afternoons 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Length: 7 weeks of 3 hour classes
Cost: $350. plus H.S.T.
Location: 486A College Street, Toronto

ABOUT ERIC KIM: Eric Kim has been working in comics and illustration for the past seven years. His book credits include Love as a Foreign Language, Degrassi: The Next Generation Vol. 3, Battle Academy, The Sidesteppers, Streta, and most recently, the Complete Plays of William Shakespeare. As an illustrator, he has worked for numerous book and editorial clients across North America as well as Japan.

Eric’s website is http://www.inkskratch.com. He’s also a smart cookie.
ABOUT THE TORONTO CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP: The Toronto Cartoonists Workshop is a learning environment where aspiring cartoonists can study with working professionals in the North American comic book, webcomics, animation and illustration fields.

Workshops are seven weekly sessions of three hours each and attendance is limited to a maximum of 15 students to optimize individual learning.

The TCW does not offer a certificate or degree. It is a continuing education experience where students are encouraged to sample various instructors and pick the learning styles and philosophies that work best for them.
The TCW’s new permanent home is located at 486A College Street, just west of Bathurst. For more information on the TCW, see http://cartoonistsworkshop.wordpress.com

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For further information, images or photos, please contact:
Sean Menard
Director, Marketing and Publicity
Toronto Cartoonists Workshop
Phone: 647.328.1656
info@cartoonistsworkshop.com


PR: New Animate USA Releases for October 2010

ANIMATE USA – NEW RELEASES FOR AMAZON KINDLE

TOKYO, JAPAN – October 15 – Animate U.S.A., Inc. is pleased to announce its October release lineup for the Amazon Kindle Store!

Libre Publishing in Japan is proud to announce the release of two more Yaoi titles. Released this month are continuation of beloved series by Youka Nitta as well as a brand new story by Shiuko Kano! Fans should also look forward to a secret surprise release later this month!

For more information, please visit www.animate-world.com, www.b-boy.jp, and to keep on top of all things about Nitta Youka, nittayouka.com!!

October 2010:
Youka Nitta – “Sound of My Voice – Golden Goose Part 4”
Shiuko Kano – “Manly Construction Training – Gaten na Aitsu”

“Sound of My Voice – Golden Goose Part 4” by Youka Nitta

A lifelong dream of fame and fortune has been the driving force of Wataru Jouchi’s entire life. Now, after much self-doubt, he’s decided to fulfill his destiny and become a voice actor for anime videos.

At first, he is thrilled to discover that his long lost friend, Renji Kazama, is considered a top star in the industry. But Kazama does not seem at all pleased about their unexpected reunion.

Is he simply wary of this newfound competition, or is there another reason why he seems intent on keeping Wataru at arm’s reach?

“Manly Construction Training -Gaten na Aitsu-” by Shiuko Kano

A sweet story of Yuusaku and Taizo from the popular series, “Manly Construction Training -Gaten na Aitsu-.”

Yuusaku wants to have a date with Taizo, so he negotiates with his dad.
However, his dad tells him to go to Osaka and work in construction for training…

So Toono sneaks into the school at night!?
Toono’s mom and dad, and even the super-smart student council president, appear!
Of course, Cute Chibi Toono-kun appears too!

This is the anticipated second episode of the super popular series!

Read more…


ANN Review: Stepping on Roses (Vol. 03)

If you’re interested in reading my thoughts on a shoujo series that goes past guilty pleasure into just ick, you can check out my review of Stepping on Roses (Vol. 03) over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

It’s always had that hokey harlequin-romance quirk to it but it officially crossed the line in volume three to just flat-out WTFery. Someone put that girl out of her misery already; see to it her brother has a horrible but well-deserved end and let the pretty butler-man appear in some other series consisting of more likable people. Silver-lining: the art is still pretty.


Take me back to the top!